The process is different for everyone. There is no wrong (or right) way to write. Each person has to figuret out for themselves what works and what doesn’t.
 
The Approach
For me the act of writing is a discovery process. Auguste Rodin said, “I invent nothing, I rediscover.” I am a big proponent of the Multiverse Theory and it’s infinite possibilities. As far as I am concerned each story world is it’s own reality. I’m a visitor looking around and taking notes. My characters are largely independent of me. They have the ability to surprise and infuriate me, just like all the people in my life. When I am not thinking/writing about them, they go on with their lives regardless of my attention. Even in world building mode when I am trying to construct systems of government and politico dynamics, et al, I still have this sense that, like Michaelangelo, the shape of the thing I’m trying to create is already present in the mass/mess, but I have to put in the work to reveal what has been there all along.
 
 
The Method
Generally speaking when I start a story I have two things to work with. A character and the ending. I usually know how a story will end but I have absolutely no idea how I will get there. I am a panster by nature. Whether or not you choose to outline, here’s the thing, a lot can happen between bullet points. You may have a list of well thought out plot points but how you move characters from one plot point to the next is still a crap shoot. There are a lot of choices to make for every scene and how you transition from one scene to next. Anyone of those choices can render the rest of your plot points totally moot and you have to rethink what happens next. Again, this is my writing style. Some authors wield an iron fist over their creations and have absolute control at all times, if that is you, must be nice.
 
The other element I have to work with is a person. Characters are the most important part of a story to me. Clever ideas are good but very few people will stick with you solely because of a cool premise. When I start there I usually have an image in my head and there is at least one person at the center. I have no idea who they are or what they want, but they’re there waiting for me to find out. I used to just start writing, using that one image in my head as the starting point for my exploration. Lately I’ve been intentional about figuring out who the character is first. The internet is full of tools for character building. The one that has really helped me story wise is K.M. Weiland’s book, “Creating Character Arcs.” The time I put into going through her questions and developing my main cast before I start writing has really helped me to understand who these people are. As a bonus I get all kinds of awesome plot ideas. Because the plot is largely determined by the characters, if I have no idea who they are or what they want then I have no story.
 
 
The Hard Part
Writing. Panster or plotter it makes no difference, writers write. Full stop. The internet is rife with memes about procrastinating writers because it is true. Why do so many of us avoid that which we long to do? Ask ten writers and you’ll get ten answers. Whatever the reasons, you will have to wrestle yourself into submission on that one. But there will come a time when there is nothing left to do but put words to a page.
 
Soapbox Tangent
It has always annoyed the crap out of me when people casually declare they will write a book someday. I think because they are literate and know how to construct a sentence they assume a book should be any easy thing to do. Well, it’s not. If it was easy there would not be thousands of how-to books on the subject.
 
Okay, now that I have that off my chest…. Whatever you have to do to get those words down, do it. Habit is your friend. Our brains love routine and patterns so if you can write at the same time everyday (week/month/year) it will help creativity to flow a lot better. I trick myself by saying I only have to write 500 words. That’s it. As an example, the first two sections of this entry are about that. BUT, once I get rolling, I don’t usually want to stop. It’s the getting started part I find hard.
 
I have to schedule my time. I make appointments with myself and do not change them for anyone. There will be a million opportunities to interrupt you so schedule time when you can be the least demanded upon. If you are so popular/busy that this is impossible then you are going to have to choose writing time over social time. If you are serious about writing you will find a way. One of my writing partners is a mother of two little kids. She writes when they nap. Sometimes she can’t because of other things she has to do, but when she can write, she does. Progress is still progress no matter how slow.
 
 
In Conclusion
This is my method. You need to find your own path but it’s always nice to know how other people go about it. Other strong suggestions are: read (fiction and nonfiction, in all sorts of genres,) talk to other writers, and find other writing to workshop your work. It’s scary letting other people see your work in a raw state but you will learn a lot and improve by leaps and bounds if you can take to heart their suggestions.

One of the best parts about being a fiction writer is all the lying. You can make up anything you want BUT it still has to be believable. Meaning, the world of your story has to have an internal logic that works within itself. 

No matter what you end up writing, chances are you will need to do research of some kind. Maybe it's just fighting styles or how far away point A is from point B. I have had to do research for each book that is all very different from book to book. I love to learn so this is always a fun part for me. 

TRESPASSING

I started with investigating the basics of neuroscience to see how the brain works and also particle physics because I wanted to base the Elbie on something. I love the sciences in general so this was a easy ask (of myself) and I still read neuroscience books when I find them because the human mind is a weird and wacky place.

 LINCHPIN

The big difference here was I was dealing with a people group from another culture so I wanted to make sure I represented the people correctly. I had found a bunch of videos on YouTube that were filmed in India with the desert tribes. I noticed they were posted all by the same person. So I contacted him, Rolf Lunheim, and asked him where I could find more information and he told me where to buy his book. He is an anthroplogist and studded the people group in my book.

I read Samit Basu's scifi books to get a feel for how someone from that culture writes about their own culture in the scifi genre. Here is the thing I discovered. No matter what background your characters come from we all experience love, pain, betrayal, friendship, disappoint, et al in similar ways. 

​For extra measure I asked a few Indian friends to read the book to make sure I didn't have any blind spots.

ITERATION

This book went in a direction I could not predict when I started this series. It also went into a realm that have very little knowledge of. I won't say much more but hopefully this example of my reading will get you excited for where this series is going. 

I was scanning through the site and saw this:

https://www.elbiefree.com/rants-n-raves/state-of-the-trilogy

And realized WOW, i did not make my goal. In the above mentioned blog I said book 3 would be done by 2018 come hell or high water. Well, it's not done and here's what I have to say about that. I did finish complete the 1st draft that November and at over 120k words.

Then it was submitted to my critique group. We have a 5k word maximum for each submission so getting the whole thing by them took most of a year. I also had my writing mentor read it. After it was all said and done I have over 600 comments to address and who knows how much rewriting and restructuring. Not to mention I am still reading several books to make sure I have correct ideas. 

So all that to say. It's really, really, happening. 70 chapters. New characters and old. And completed character  arcs to boot. It's gonna be good y'all. I can't wait for you to read it. I will be asking for beta readers. If you are interested please hit me up on Twitter or Facebook.

​Here is what editing a novel can look like.

If you're a writer type, it's possible that you have heard about this little thing called National Novel Writing Month. I did NaNoWriMo for the first time in 2009. It was spontaneous choice I made on October 31st. As suggested by the NaNo handbook, I acrually started with "Once upon a time." I had no idea what my story was going to be about at all. And yet... something happened. 

Here's the thing you need to know about my writing process. I spend years mulling over my stories. Characters live in my head for years. Years. Lysandra first came into my brain in 1988. My next story world I am working has been in my head for 20 years. To start a story with absolutely no ideas of any kind was terrifyig. 

And yet.

Day after day as I pushed myself to get those 1667 words down and somehow people sprang from the page along with locations and situations just appearing from the depths of my being. It was hard and exhilerating. Some days I was was just exhausted and other days I was sentence dynamo.

I've won NaNo three times. And I can say that once you hit 30k, you feel invincible. After that, another 20k feels like a breeze. I like partcipating in NaNo every year to help push myself to get a lot done. It helps to get my writing habit back on track. And it is fun meeting with other writers. I never regret talking to other writers.

My favorite part about NaNo is that even if you don't "win", you still do. You may not reach 50k words but you will have a whole lot of new material and that is the most important part. You have something on the page if you are ever going to be a writer. 
​
If you are trying to decide if you should do it or not, I say go for it! NaNo is not for everyone, but I think everyone can benefit from pushing themselves to the brink like that, at least once. You will be surprised at what comes out of you. 

​I’m done!
 
Sort of.
 
I can’t believe it took me almost three years to get through the first draft of book 3. But I have completed the final scene, full story arc complete with an inciting incident, defeats and victories, and of course the climax and falling action.
 
But wait there’s more!
 
The first draft, phase 1, is just the beginning. On to phase 2, the rewriting. This is where I get to take all the feedback I’ve gotten from my workshop group and my writing mentor and make upgrades. Rewriting is the heart of writing if you ask me. For a pantsters like myself (writers who don’t use plot outlines,) writing the first draft is like wandering around a dark room trying to find the light. As you grope around you get an idea of the shape of the room and what is in there. Turning on the light is finishing that draft when you get to finally see what it is you’ve got. Rewriting is my favorite part because now I get to really dig into what I’ve discovered and hone it into the best it can be. This is my chance to bring things out, dust them off and let them shine. I can do more nuanced dialogue, stronger foreshadowing, and get the continuity of action shored up.
 
Phase 3 will be finding Beta readers. Phase 4 is the editing from that. And once I am truly convinced of story and all of its parts, I will finally be at phase 5, the actual editing from a professional editor (because you should never edit your own work. Never ever.)
 
Once I make all the updates I get from the editor, a little bit of formatting and THEN I will be ready to publish.
 
Woo.
 
I still have a ways to go, but I’ve  gotten through the gauntlet of getting my idea on paper.

“Good things come to those who wait.” A popular mantra since 1892. I recently saw a modified version of that quote that crossed out “wait” and replaced it with “work their asses off.” In this case, both are true.
 
Some of you have asked, and I really appreciate your interest, when book three will be out. My original hope had been this year, already. I had hoped to be done with it in 2015.  But alas, that is not the case. It WILL be published in 2018 or I will die trying.
 
When I started book one I had no idea it would lead to a second or third book. And I definitely did not have any notion of where the trilogy would (will) end.  (Word to the wise, don’t publish anything until you know how it’s going to end.) Anyways, once I had completed Trespassing, I had no conscious plans to do another book. Linchpin just came out of nowhere and writing it was so easy. So easy. I emphasize this because book three has been anything but easy. Book three, Iteration, is making me work for every single word. Which is fine, it’s just pushed back my timeline. When I was explaining to my writing coach what I wanted to accomplish with book three I realized it is an ambitious undertaking so it will need time to make sure it’s done right.
 
I have had to work for absolutely every word and I hope they are worth it. At the moment the word count is hovering around 100k, the wordiest of the three. I will wrap up the first draft by the end of November and then it will go through the hoops with my workshop group, writing coach, and finally the editor. Who knows how many words will survive after all of that. In any case, the waiting will be well worth it. I promise.
 
As to the why behind a third book, is really because – trilogy. Everybody loves them. Two books doesn’t feel complete. There is something so satisfying about sets of three, ask any art or writing major.
 
For the release of book three, I hope to publish a definitive collection of DPA/Elbie material. Including all the short stories, the graphic novel, and an alternate beginning to Trespassing. It’s going to be a big deal you guys. So I have my work cut out for me over the next six months, working my ass off, so that once the wait is over, you will be very happy with the results.

​The old adage is that writers write. I'm a writer, I have two books you can buy right now. Haven't written much in three months.
 
I'm not going to say I have writer block. It may be, but I'm not convinced. I think it's more akin to extreme procrastination. I am avoiding writing. I don't know why but I am. Once I sit down and start doing it I'm fine, it's the getting started part that I am struggling with.
 
Part of the problem is distraction. Unlimited data is not my friend. Netflix and Hulu must think I'm bed ridden. Ray Bradbury has strong opinions about TV and he is not someone I would lightly dismiss.
 
In addition, for the last two years I have been obsessing over various fandoms. (Looking at you RvB and Star Wars.) Other fans are a source of great delight to me but it is a deep hole that can be hard to get away from, especially if I am facing a hard scene.
 
Lastly, people. There is a lot of demand on my time. I strongly believe that investing in the right relationships is important but it has come at a cost and that price has been my dedicated writing time. I have to schedule that time and I have to defend it, vehemently, or it will never happen.
 
I am not saying any of these activities are bad. All I am saying is that for me they are not helping me advance in my writing. If it doesn't contribute to my current goal of finishing book three it has to be set aside.
 
So. This is what I am resorting to. My goal, once a day, just write one sentence. That's it. Five to fifteen little words in the context of my story.
 
But you see it’s trick. Once I write one sentence the next one comes pretty easily. In no time I have a bona fide paragraph. And then I am on my way. As a precaution I have made myself accountable to someone. I text them that I have done my sentence. If they don’t hear from me they ask about it. Somedays I only have enough energy for the one sentence, but it’s still progress, I am still moving forward.
 
This is nothing new, it's Anne Lamont's bird by bird story. Start with one word, then do another. Don't think about the big picture. Focus on that one thing. Because all I need right now is my shitty first draft and the only way to get that is laying down sentences one word at a time.

In the past I have posted pictures of what some of my characters would wear. Since I am working a lot with the four, Brendan, Kristy, Matt, and Derek, in book three I wanted to expand that a little bit. So here you go.

I've mentioned it before here, but I want to say it again. I plant Easter Eggs in my stories. So if you're reading something from me and wonder, did that come from INSERT NAME? It's a good possibility, especially if it's from a movie. For example, I am working on Book 3. I just used the number 117 for something. 117 is an intentional reference to Halo, Master Chief's school designation, John-117.

Below are the lists for the first 2 books. No spoilers.

Book 1 - Trespassing:
Chapter 1, section 3 we get a quick background on Walter Fielding, a newly retained host. As mentioned above, The Money Pit is the source for Walter’s name, wife’s name, location and vocation.

-Top of Chapter 2. “How not to be seen” is a reference to a Monty Python sketch.

-In Chapter 3 the IT room they are in is “room 101”. Room 101 is from George Orwell’s book, 1984 and is a place of personal nightmares. By using this reference I am attempting a subconscious connection to how the characters think about this space.

-Chapter 6, section 5 I had Korben Dallas from The Fifth Element in mind when it came down to making one person question if the safety on the gun is on or off. 

-End of Chapter 10 my villain borrows a line from Darth Vader in Empire Strikes Back. When Vader and Boba Fett are discussing the condition of carbon freezing Han Solo. You’ll know when you read it.

 -Chapter 12, Lysandra is trapped inside a mini-theater. This setting was inspired by a recent visit to Castro Theater here in San Francisco. 

The amazing thing about this, is that the theater is in her own head. Not two days after I wrote the scene I was reading a book about human consciousness and was introduced to the concept of the Cartesian Theater. Check it out, it’s a trip.

-At the end of Chapter 16 I let Lysandra quote Princess Leia from Return of Jedi.

Book 2 - Linchpin:
In order of appearance, I think.

​-Conference Room is Room 101 from 1984
-"Face of doom" is a Dane Cook reference from his routine about how to cut in line.
-The Creme fraiche ice cream dessert from the Ice Cream Bar. (If you ever get the chance to go, do.)
-Ho Eriksson, "Ho" is a greeting used in Ender's Game.
-"Comfortable? Cozy?"  Captain Hook from the movie Hook
-"Get used to disappointment." The Princess Bride, of course
-"It's a legitimate question." Ender's Game the movie (not the book.)
-Never do business with people who scare you comes from Firefly
-"Protest, formal protest" is Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory
-A character drops an object as a ploy for something else. This was inspired by Everafter.
-"Allies against a common foe" Galvatron to Hot Rod in the only acknowledged Transformers movie (1986)
-Room A3 is a shout out to Alpha Trion, also a Transformers reference.
-"I am vexed with them" Inspired by Commodus from Gladiator
-"I like him too." Alexandra from The Fall by Tarsem Singh. (Link is to the trailer on You Tube.)
-"It's where I keep all my stuff." From The Tick about why Earth can't be eaten.

There will be a whole new batch with book 3, looking at you Red vs. Blue fans. If you find any not on these lists please let me know.

While looking for something completely different I found this nifty fictional fact sheet. I still marvel at being able to forget the things I've created. If you have no idea what this is talking about then you need to read my books. Ha! #ShamelessPromotion, but you are the one on my website so I think it's okay.